Airport using all 5 full-body scanners

Wednesday

Jun 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMJun 30, 2010 at 11:07 AM

All five of the full-body scanners slated for Port Columbus are in operation several weeks ahead of schedule, airport officials said yesterday, and new plans call for also adding one at Rickenbacker Airport.

All five of the full-body scanners slated for Port Columbus are in operation several weeks ahead of schedule, airport officials said yesterday, and new plans call for also adding one at Rickenbacker Airport.

This means that all passengers flying out of Port Columbus are being sent through full-body scanners unless they opt for a pat-down.

When Port Columbus received its first scanner in May, airport officials did not expect all five to be in operation until the end of the summer.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration told the authority recently that a scanner should be installed at Rickenbacker in the near future, said Elaine Roberts, CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, in the board's monthly meeting yesterday.

Rickenbacker is used primarily for cargo, but the South Side airport is also used by Direct Air for seasonal passenger service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and also serves charters, especially around events such as college-football bowl games.

Roberts had encouraging news on passenger numbers at Port Columbus: They were up a little more than 2percent in May and in the first five months of this year compared with the same periods last year, according to figures released yesterday.

In May, 536,757 travelers used the airport, up 2.3 percent from May 2009. The two carriers with the smallest presence at the airport - Air Canada and Midwest Airlines - saw the largest percentage increases: 55 percent and 31percent, respectively.

In the first five months of the year, passenger traffic was up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

Cargo shipments were still down at Rickenbacker from last year, but the declines were smaller. Shipped weight was down 3.7 percent in May compared with May 2009. In the first five months of the year, the decline was 6 percent.

mrose@dispatch.com

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